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Marketing Alum Charts Creative Course

July 8, 2013

Alumna Amy Palmer wrote and published "Hidden Thirst," a science fiction novel.

What began as a hobby for self-described science nerd Amy Palmer, '12 BSB, is now a novel. The marketing and international business alumna began work on science fiction thriller "Hidden Thirst" when her dad conceived the plot more than ten years ago. And after countless revisions, the team has published the story.

Hidden Thirst follows the trials of a team of NASA scientists who make an important discovery while studying a comet. The plot reflects mankind's curiosity about space and thirst for knowledge.

"There's just something about outer space and looking up at the stars that has always made me curious," she says.

Although not a typical endeavor for a business school graduate, Palmer says her Carlson School education enabled her to grow the side project into a book. In addition to co-writing and editing the story, she developed a business plan for the novel, navigated the publishing process, and led the marketing.

"The entrepreneurial spirit is so important to the creative process," she says. "The same tools the Carlson School gave me to run a business propelled us forward as we finished the book."

Palmer cites lessons from her capstone marketing class as helping her form the foundation for the venture. She's applied lessons about using decision making to move a business forward, accounting for the small details inherent in running a business, and guiding marketing on a non-existent budget.

Palmer is a marketing associate at Cárdenas Marketing Network in Chicago.